The price of gold reached a new record level on Monday, confirming its status as a safe haven in the face of the pandemic and Sino-American tensions, and also helped by the depreciation of the dollar.

Gold hit an all-time high of $1,944.71 an ounce on Monday shortly after 0300 GMT, and was hovering around $1,933 around 0530 GMT.

It has thus largely erased its previous record in session of some 1,921 dollars per ounce, signed in September 2011.

The price of the yellow metal has appreciated by more than 27% since the start of this year.

At a time when the coronavirus epidemic is worsening in many countries, investors are favoring this eternal safe haven in times of crisis.

Extensive monetary easing measures by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) have pushed the dollar lower in recent months, further boosting the attractiveness of gold.

Since the market for the precious metal is denominated in dollars, a fall in the American currency makes it less expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Analysts predict that gold should soon exceed 2,000 dollars an ounce, while the Fed could deliver new exceptional measures on Wednesday at the end of its monetary policy meeting.

The slipping negotiations between the White House and Congress on a new support plan for the American economy, as well as the outbreak of the coronavirus in the United States, which complicates the resumption of activity in the country, are also currently pulling the falling dollar.

Monday around 0520 GMT, the dollar was worth 105.60 yen, its lowest level since March against the Japanese currency, another safe haven valued by investors.

The greenback was also at its lowest against the euro in nearly two years, with one euro trading for around $1.1700.

High gold gains "are inevitable as we enter a period similar to the environment that emerged after the global financial crisis (2008-2009, editor's note), when gold prices reached record highs because of the amounts of money injected by the Fed into the financial system," said Gavin Wendt, an analyst at MineLife.

“Gold is clearly the beneficiary of the demand for safe havens”, while the returns of other investments “dive of the nose”, like those of sovereign bonds under the effect of the massive interventions of the central banks, also commented Stephen AxiCorp's Innes in a note released Monday.

To the already heavy uncertainties about the recovery of the world economy in the second half of the year are added fears of a new escalation of tensions between the world's two leading economic powers, which are weighing on the equity markets.

After the United States demanded the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston (southern United States), considered by Washington as a "hub of espionage and intellectual property theft", Beijing responded by ordering the closure of the US diplomatic mission in Chengdu, southwest China.

China announced on Monday that it had "taken possession" of the American consulate in Chengdu.

Some experts go so far as to predict a price of 3,000 dollars for an ounce of gold in the future, which persuades many investors that it is not too late to jump on the bandwagon.

Shares of Chinese mining groups such as Zijin Mining Group and Shandong Gold Mining soared on the stock market on Monday, in the wake of soaring gold prices.